Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

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Reader Interactions

220Comments

  3. 3.

    Alain the site fixer

    FYI video ad is temporarily down, don’t get too excited, everyone. It shall return once a few more advertisers remove their audio ads from our stream.

  4. 4.

    clay

    Boy, that Harvard degree sure does reflect well on that institution, doesn’t it?

    I’ll bet his nanny had to triple check his application. “No Jared, you aren’t a 64-year-old Pacific Islander, dear.”

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    Roy Moore’s theocratic contribution to Republican politics
    09/27/17 12:55 PM
    By Steve Benen

    When Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) was first elected in 2006, it was a breakthrough moment for domestic political diversity: the Minnesota Democrat was the first Muslim American to ever be elected to Congress. Alabama’s Roy Moore had a rather unique reaction to the news.

    At the time, Moore was a contributor to a fringe right-wing conspiracy-theory website, having been removed from the state bench for an ethics violation. After learning of Ellison’s victory, Moore argued that the Minnesotan shouldn’t be allowed to serve on Capitol Hill – not because there was a problem with the election, but because Ellison is a member of a religious minority that Moore doesn’t like.

    In Moore’s vision of the United States, the law extends special protections and benefits to Christians, while everyone else, in a rather literal sense, is a second-class citizen. The U.S. Constitution may prohibit religious tests for public office, and may separate church from state, but as far as Moore is concerned, that same Constitution was created to “foster Christianity.”

    I’ve been writing about Moore’s antics off and on for about 20 years now, and what I think people fail to appreciate is the extent to which he represents something unique in our politics. We’ve grown quite accustomed over the years to assorted cranks and con-men, radicals and rabble-rousers, but what sets Moore apart is the fact that he doesn’t, strictly speaking, believe in a democratic system of government.

    The Alabama Republican, who may soon become the newest member of the United State Senate, is probably best described as a theocrat. New York’s Jon Chait summarized this well:

    News accounts have delicately phrased the matter by calling Moore a “firebrand.” In reality, he is an insurrectionist. Moore considers a certain brand of theological Christianity to be the sole legitimate legal authority of the United States. He has used his public office to openly defy the country’s actual legal authority. A functioning conservative party would consider respect for law and order a threshold question. Instead, Republicans have dismissed it as a mere inconvenience.

  7. 7.

    bystander

    I found this fun and interesting.

    PHOENIX (AP) — A leading purveyor of fake news during the 2016 Presidential election has died outside Phoenix at the age of 38.

    Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Casey said Tuesday authorities discovered Paul Horner dead in his bed on Sept. 18.

    Gee, such a promising career cut short. And before Mueller got to discuss with him how much money there is in a Facebook ratf**king career.

  10. 10.

    Alain the site fixer

    JRinWV, if you’re still around, I got your submission, but I’ll be running it next week. I’m jetting outta here to take mom to appointment which is why I’m doing this and not firing up my email client to send you an email.

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    Is he simply incapable of filling out a form correctly?

    Let’s go with the obvious explanation.

    Voter Fraud.

  12. 12.

    M. Bouffant

    A very confused young man. The Hill:

    Democratic opposition research group American Bridge first spotted the error, which Wired then reported first.

    “Kushner can’t even fill out the most basic paperwork without screwing it up, so it’s a mystery why anyone thinks he’s somehow going to bring peace to the Middle East,” Brad Bainum, a spokesperson for the group, told Wired about the mistake. “Would anyone but the president’s son-in-law still have a West Wing job after repeated disclosure errors and a botched a security clearance form?”

    Kushner, who has a vast portfolio of issues at the White House, has had to amend his federal security clearance forms multiple times to include meetings with foreign contacts.

    He told congressional investigators that the mistakes have been due to a “miscommunication” with his assistant.

    Prior to 2009, his New Jersey voter registration noted his gender as “unknown.”

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    I think Jared is a zombie walking.

    But isn’t it possible there was incorrect data input at the state? That said, Jared didn’t check over his voting reg very carefully, either.

    Attention to detail. Trumps don’t got it.

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    @Alain the site fixer:

    FYI video ad is temporarily down, don’t get too excited, everyone. It shall return once a few more advertisers remove their audio ads from our stream.

    Way to kick us when we’re down, Alain.

  15. 15.

    JDM

    Okay, now I’m sorry about calling
    him a pussy. I didn’t think you’d take it to heart, Jared. But maybe you’ll be happier now.

  16. 16.

    peej01

    I was labeled as male on my driver’s license for years (and I didn’t notice it) before my doctor’s office noticed, so this is one time I’m sympathetic to Jared.

  18. 18.

    Fair Economist

    @bystander cites:

    PHOENIX (AP) — A leading purveyor of fake news during the 2016 Presidential election has died outside Phoenix at the age of 38.

    Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Casey said Tuesday authorities discovered Paul Horner dead in his bed on Sept. 18.

    Did they test for ricin? (Polonium is slow).

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    Kushner, who has a vast portfolio of issues at the White House, has had to amend his federal security clearance forms multiple times to include meetings with foreign contacts….

    Prior to 2009, his New Jersey voter registration noted his gender as “unknown.”

    A cry for help?

    It’s so sad to hear Trump supporters talk about how brilliant Trump and his family is, and then try to pass off all this stupidity as “innocent” or trivial mistakes.

  21. 21.

    MJS

    I’m struck by the registration date. 2009? 10 years after he was eligible? So we have someone who only started doing the bare minimum as a citizen 8 years ago in charge of reinventing government, Middle East peace, etc., etc. Jesus F. Christ.

  22. 22.

    scav

    HORRORS!!!!! Has Kushner used any public restrooms since he registered to vote!?! The Danger!! exists even in The White House!!

  23. 23.

    jl

    Baudists, being a virtual party with virtual candidates and virtual supporters can never have these problems. System specs can be changed instantly to eliminate any possible, existing, indeed all logically possible errors in any logically possible universe.
    Baud 2020!

    Edit: and he looks much better with the do-over performed by Lady Cracker. Good job, Cracker. Trumpsters should hire her for Director of Keeping Up Appearances.

    Edit2: And she should hold out until they make it a cabinet position with private jet perks and helicopter taxi privileges.

  25. 25.

    bystander

    @germy: His brother seemed to think he was a satirist, too.

    @Fair Economist: I was wondering if there were any teacup in the room.

    @schrodingers_cat: I’ve never seen The Americans, so thanks for the explanation.

    Now, if there were a subpoena in the room, the story would write itself.

  26. 26.

    Spanky

    @bystander:

    Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Casey said Tuesday authorities discovered Paul Horner dead in his bed on Sept. 18.

    Gonna be hard to explain away all the water in his lungs.

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    Betty, I’m torn between wanting to make that pic my new computer wallpaper and wanting to throw up – he’s certainly the opposite of appealing. Scary, even. I’ll keep you posted.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @M. Bouffant:

    He told congressional investigators that the mistakes have been due to a “miscommunication” with his assistant.

    Prior to 2009, his New Jersey voter registration noted his gender as “unknown.”

    I’m getting a feeling that Jared’s assistant doesn’t like him very much. Slyly screwing up simple things like this is a classic passive-aggressive assistant move (and I’ve been one for quite a while now).

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    A functioning conservative party would consider respect for law and order a threshold question.

    They do! It’s just that they’ve recycled the term “law and order” to mean police suppression of minorities, and you can be sure Roy Moore is in favor of that. It’s the same way they use “fiscal conservatism” to mean cutting taxes on the rich and “freedom of religion” to mean discrimination against gays.

  32. 32.

    jl

    Hey! Where’s my Acura jingle? First semi classy ad that can be openly discussed in polite company that I’ve gotten here in ages. Now it’s gone.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @Trentrunner:

    And all of the conservatives who manufactured the lie that Michelle Obama was a transwoman will be shocked, shocked that anyone would be so mean as to accuse Jared of the same thing.

    Unfortunately for them, we kept the receipts. All of them.

  35. 35.

    Antonius

    OT:
    Hi folks.
    For those who passed along the word about my family’s friends in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, thank you!
    A chain of people got someone to our friends, and that person was able to get a message to one of their daughters.
    Everyone is safe and sound.

  36. 36.

    Petorado

    @Fair Economist: The NYT reports suspected prescription drug overdose — another victim of the opiod crisis?

    Here’s what Horner had to say about his “spoofing”: “My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time,” he told The Post. “I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything.”

    Irony isn’t dead, it’s just been rendered absolutely useless in this political environment.

  37. 37.

    Spanky

    Washington (CNN)
    Rep. Mark Walker, the chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, described female members of the group as the committee’s “eye candy” during a press conference Tuesday morning.

    “The accomplished men and women of the RSC. And women. If it wasn’t sexist, I would say the RSC eye candy, but we’ll leave that out of the record,” Walker said

    No we won’t, Markie Boy. No we won’t.

  39. 39.

    hueyplong

    Re Kushner: Roy Moore don’t cotton to such stuff. Might suggest drawn derringers at dawn.

    Re Paul Horner: Quite a few professional trolls and dirty tricksters from 2016 might be getting a little nervous right now. The “all clear” from Arizona law enforcement might not be all that comforting.

    With control of neither the White House nor either half of Congress, we rely on the other side’s descent into chaos. In that regard, today’s news is less bad than usual.

  42. 42.

    KithKanan

    @Roger Moore: I’m pretty sure that’s what “law and order” meant as a Nixon/Agnew slogan in ’68, too. Well, police suppression of minorities and those damn dirty hippies.

  43. 43.

    Redshift

    @Roger Moore:

    They do! It’s just that they’ve recycled the term “law and order” to mean police suppression of minorities, and you can be sure Roy Moore is in favor of that.

    This one they didn’t even have to recycle. “Law and Order” in politics has never meant anything other than protecting white people from scary brown people.

  44. 44.

    khead

    We have to respect our national anthem, we have to respect our country, and they’re not respecting our country. And most importantly, the fans agree with me—I mean largely the fans agree, but we have to show total respect for our national anthem for our flag, for our country, we have to do it.

    From today’s NFL Trump rant.

  45. 45.

    hueyplong

    @Petorado: Makes Horner sound like a guy certain people wouldn’t want talking to the NY AG or Mueller.

    Not saying he got iced. Am saying the forces of evil caught a break in the form of Mr Horner’s untimely demise (untimely in that it would have better had it happened in 2015).

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    “Active Status: ACTIVE” sounds like a tautology or somesuch.

    Active man, active man, Jared is our active man.
    Bringing peace, Middle East, Jared is our active man.
    Wait…active woman!

  48. 48.

    Jeffro

    J-Rubs notes that Trumpov’s had his worst week yet (aren’t they all) and one commenter responds:

    Someone can remake the 1980s flick “Red Dawn” and make it about the hostile takeover of the GOP. They could call it “Redneck Dawn”. The pivotal scene will be when all the GOP moderates have been collected and caged in a chain-link fence enclosure, imprisoned, as Roy Moore and Cliven Bundy and Ted Nugent and Rand Paul and Kid Rock ride around outside on their horses, brandishing their pistols.

    Jeb Bush will look solemnly into the night at the cowering masses of moderate voters and yell: “Voters! Avenge me! AVENGE ME!!!!!”.

  49. 49.

    randy khan

    Not that we needed further confirmation of this, but attention to detail is not this group’s strong point.

  50. 50.

    MattF

    I’m guessing Kushner is accustomed to ‘delegating’ tasks to minions– and then getting away with errors by blaming them on people who can’t defend themselves. I can also picture a minion reaching the ‘Gender’ category on the form and thinking “I’d say… ‘unknown'”. It’s what I’d do, under the circumstances.

  52. 52.

    Origuy

    Alain, I emailed you some pictures of San Francisco about a month ago. I had trouble with the form. I’m wondering if you got them. If you haven’t had a chance to post them, no problem. I see you’re backed up. Just curious if they got delivered.

  53. 53.

    jl

    @khead: I look forward to the GOP Congress’ ‘total respect‘ legislation. Has Mnuchin gone on the TV to explain what ‘total respect’ is yet?

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    @Leto: I heard one woman’s story on the radio a couple months ago, and was agape at the gall of Those People. She had moved out during the previous ownership, having given the necessary notice. The Kushner people went after her, because reasons, and IIRC even garnished her wages. From your link,

    Many of the cases involved former tenants who had moved out of the complexes several years prior to the Kushner Companies’ purchase of them. And some involved tenants who possessed clear evidence that they did not owe the money the company claimed, yet were pursued anyway for several years, with late fees and court fees piling on top of the original claims. The article also described shoddy conditions that many tenants contend with at the complexes, including mice, leaky roofs and mold.

    In response to questions for the May 23 article, the Kushner Companies’ chief financial officer said that its approach when it came to pursuing tenants was in line with industry practices and that it had a fiduciary duty to its ownership partners to collect all money owed by current and former tenants.

    A lot of money to be made preying on the poor, just look at the payday lending industry.

  55. 55.

    sharl

    @Jeffro:

    Someone can remake the 1980s flick “Red Dawn” and make it about the hostile takeover of the GOP. They could call it “Redneck Dawn”. The pivotal scene will be when all the GOP moderates have been collected and caged in a chain-link fence enclosure, imprisoned, as Roy Moore and Cliven Bundy and Ted Nugent and Rand Paul and Kid Rock ride around outside on their horses, brandishing their pistols.

    Jeb Bush will look solemnly into the night at the cowering masses of moderate voters and yell: “Voters! Avenge me! AVENGE ME!!!!!” Please clap.”

    I had to rewrite the ending of this proposed scene, because I would prefer a comedy remake of that movie.

  56. 56.

    jl

    Comfort is finally deployed to Puerto Rico. Maybe former crew busting administration on its excuses made some difference? They said Comfort has often been deployed when there is no deep water harbor since patients were often transported to the ship by air and small water craft.

    Now Trump says, on temporary lift of Jones Act:

    Trump Says ‘Shipping Industry’ Doesn’t Want Shipping Waiver For Puerto Rico
    TPM
    “Well, we’re thinking about that,” he responded. “But we have a lot of shippers, and a lot of people — a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”
    talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/puerto-rico-jones-act-waiver

    Trump’s gut just doesn’t wanna, is a big problem with federal response, IMHO. No matter what his backtpeddling tweets say.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @Antonius:

    Hooray! It always amazes me how many people on Balloon-Juice know exactly what someone else needs to know. I’m glad the magic worked for you.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    Meanwhile, somebody call a plumber this drip, drip, drip is driving me crazy.

    Sean Spicer has lawyered up.

    The president’s former press secretary has tapped Chris Mead, a high-powered criminal defense attorney, to handle issues related to the special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, The Daily Beast has learned.

    According to his bio page at the firm London & Mead, Mead specializes in white collar criminal defense and Congressional investigations, as well as issues related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act——a law that bars Americans from bribing foreign government officials. His law firm bio also boasts that he gained “extensive experience in money laundering” prosecutions when he was a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

    Spicer will need legal help for the probe. Axios reported last week that he took detailed notes throughout the presidential campaign, which may be of great interest and use to Mueller and his team of investigators.

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @jl:

    Has Mnuchin gone on the TV to explain what ‘total respect’ is yet?

    Whatever Those People are failing to do.

  63. 63.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    @trollhattan: @trollhattan:

    I really can’t guess how this will turn out. My best guess is that a whole lot of people around Trump will get indicted and prosecuted, maybe even convicted and jailed, but not Manbaby himself. If I were going to vote, I’d guess the three most likely outcomes would be, once people begin getting prosecuted,

    1: Trump muddles along, isolated and crippled for the next three years, but declares his administration to have been such an amazing, unalloyed, spectacular success that America is now so great that he doesn’t need to do anything else, and he doesn’t run in 2020;

    2: Trump resigns;

    3: He runs again in 2020, and gets slaughtered.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @khead:

    That’s one of the biggest differences between liberals and conservatives, IMO: conservatives think that an office or person or object should be respected because of its position in the hierarchy, regardless of the actions taken by or in the name of it. Liberals think it’s valid to lose respect for an office/person/symbol based on actions.

  65. 65.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I’m starting to think some of the misfilings in Kushner’s government disclosure forms aren’t deliberate obfuscation. He may truly be so stupid that he goes “Nobody REALLY fills out this foreign contacts stuff, right? It would take too long!” He’s just… so damn DUMB.

  66. 66.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Mnemosyne:
    I disagree. I think at this point, conservatives think an object, office, or person should be respected entirely based on tribal affiliation. They only respect the flag when they can use it to claim they are the Real Americans. They only respect the presidency when they can use that as a weapon to criticize Democrats. And so on.

    EDIT – ‘Tribal affiliation’ isn’t quite right. They are locked in a race war, one white liberals are usually unaware of, and they must win. They MUST win. Everything is viewed through that lens.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro:

    The pivotal scene will be when all the GOP moderates have been collected and caged in a chain-link fence enclosure, imprisoned

    So you mean an empty playground?

    And listen, I’ve asked you about this before. But when you quote J-Rubs my first thought is Jennifer Rubin giving me a handjob.
    Do not want. Thanks

  70. 70.

    catclub

    @jl:

    I look forward to the GOP Congress’ ‘total respect‘ legislation.*

    * Does not apply to black President.

  75. 75.

    eclare

    Can’t remember who I was discussing Bob Corker’s replacement with yesterday, but I got my first piece of direct mail from the Democrat running today!

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    the Kushner Companies’ chief financial officer said that its approach when it came to pursuing tenants was in line with industry practices and that it had a fiduciary duty to its ownership partners to collect all money owed by current and former tenants.

    Here’s another great example of “conservative” redefinition of everything to mean something worse. “Fiduciary duty” is supposed to mean managers have a duty to put the business owner’s interests ahead of their own when running the company. It wasn’t intended to mean businesses are free to ignore the laws of God and man in the pursuit of every possible penny of profit.

  77. 77.

    Hungry Joe

    Will Trump throw Spicer under the bus? Will he throw Manafort under the bus? Will he throw Bannon under the bus? Will he throw Jared under the bus?

    As a former school bus and city bus driver in my (much) younger days, I have heard JUST ABOUT ENOUGH of that. Can’t we come up with something else? Throw someone off a cliff, say, or into a lake of burning pitch. To the wolves. To the wolverines! Whatever. But this “under the bus” stuff gives me the heebie-jeebies.

    (Even after not having driven a bus for more than 35 years, I still have an occasional Bus Driver dream, usually involving not knowing my route and trying to drive it with a route map on my lap.)

  79. 79.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    conservatives think that an office or person or object should be respected because of its position in the hierarchy, regardless of the actions taken by or in the name of it.

    I call bullshit on this.

    President Obama got zero respect from those assholes.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    How Did McConnell Become the Whipping Boy?
    by Martin Longman
    September 27, 2017

    Everyone is talking about the horrible day Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had yesterday. He had to announce that he was giving up on executing an Obamacare repeal through budget reconciliation; he learned that one of his allies, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, won’t be seeking reelection; and he watched the candidate he supported in the Alabama special election lose very badly. It’s all bad news for him and it’s hard to decide which piece is the most threatening to his political career.

    ……………………………………….

    I actually think it’s the dynamic that unfolded in the Alabama race that should worry McConnell the most. To fully understand this, it’s probably helpful to read Jordan Gehrke’s Medium article today. He works for a political consulting firm that was initially hired by Rep. Mo Brooks and subsequently by Roy Moore. What he discovered during his research for both candidates is that their most effective message was their opposition to McConnell’s leadership. Here’s just a small sample of Gehrke’s piece:

    Despite what Mitch McConnell and Senate Leadership Fund will tell you, this was nothing less than a stunning loss for Mitch McConnell tonight. He and his team at Senate Leadership Fund invested millions on a deep Red seat that Republicans were never in danger of losing, simply so that Mitch McConnell would have another loyal vote in his pocket. They threatened people, they wasted money, and they misled President Trump into thinking this race was close.

    Finally, more stunning than McConnell’s loss is the way that he lost. Roy Moore did not win despite McConnell’s opposition, he won because of McConnell’s opposition. Going all the way back to the Primary, both Roy Moore and Mo Brooks promised that if elected, they would not support McConnell for Leader under any circumstances. They won because of open defiance to the Majority Leader. This is simply unprecedented.

  82. 82.

    jl

    @Hungry Joe: I see a lot of damaged buses ahead. Will create a bus shortage. Part of the Trumpfian infrastructure and maufacturing jobs program.

    I see a pure play on this for the Trump blind trust.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    It wasn’t intended to mean businesses are free to ignore the laws of God and man in the pursuit of every possible penny of profit.

    Actually this was litigated in court and it does mean precisely that according to the idiots who ruled on it.

  85. 85.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I’m starting to think some of the misfilings in Kushner’s government disclosure forms aren’t deliberate obfuscation.

    Nobody could be that stupid and still be walking upright.

  86. 86.

    encephalopath

    I’m not willing to discount that notion that Kushner’s voting registration “error” wasn’t an accident. He may have done this on purpose, thinking that he was hiding his voting activity from public records scrutiny.

    He’s dumb enough to thing that would actually work.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They are locked in a race war, one white liberals are usually unaware of, and they must win.

    I suspect a lot of them have deceived themselves enough to deny, even to themselves, that what they’re engaged in is a race war. The real brilliance of the Lee Atwater strategy was to enable that self-deception by providing people with convenient non-racial excuses for their racist beliefs.

  88. 88.

    Ken

    Another possible problem with the registration; it shows his date of birth as 1/1981.

    Shouldn’t there be both a day and a month?

  89. 89.

    trollhattan

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
    Similar thoughts, as Trump has already shown willingness, hell, eagerness to ditch staffers to resolve the crisis du jour. I think his ego and hair had a conversation and decided he’s hanging on to the very last thread. Have also found I can talk to nearly anybody about Trump’s future by putting it in sportsbook terms.

    –Odds of serving two full terms.
    –Odds of being reelected.
    –Odds of being renominated.
    –Odds of serving one full term.
    –Odds of serving out the calendar year.

    My numbers shift daily.

  90. 90.

    Major Major Major Major

    The apartment across the street from me has had two signs on their windows for a while. One is a Bernie Sanders campaign sign, and the other says YOU’RE RUINING SAN FRANCISCO. They’ve now added a North Korean flag to their fire escape, and some sort of sign that’s a flag-shaped black rectangle, with a white circle in the middle, and a red “no” circle-with-a-line-through-it around that.

  92. 92.

    khead

    @jl:

    “The Total Respect of Freedom and Patriotism Act of 2017”. When I first saw the quote I thought of The Joker: “Very poor choice of words”. I mean, just wow.

    It’s ok that a bunch of folks on the Internets don’t understand the difference between “should” and “have to”. I mean, I don’t like it or agree, but it’s still kinda ok. It’s not so ok when it’s the government saying it.

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    @khead:

    “The Total Respect of Freedom and Patriotism Act of 2017”.

    I don’t know what’s worse, the abuse of meaning or the grammar.

  99. 99.

    Hal

    When the only thing you know about MLK is the I Have A Dream speech.

    Be A King @BerniceKing
    Down 8,000 Facebook followers. Maybe because I disturbed people’s ideas about my father’s nonviolent philosophy & how it was received. #MLK

    Be A King @BerniceKing

    Replying to @BerniceKing
    I’m not sad. Just noting how many have made #MLK what they need him to be so that they can value order and false peace more than justice.

  103. 103.

    TenguPhule

    Kurds celebrated in the streets of Irbil, the capital of their semiautonomous enclave, hailing the result as a landmark moment in a century-long and bloody fight for independence. Nearly 93 percent of voters approved the referendum, which was held Monday.

    I predict Adam is going to have field day over this.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    Someone sedated Trump on the airplane ride over to IN. But he’s still lying his ass off about Healthcare. Kell Sooprise.

  114. 114.

    sharl

    Now that former Keith Ellison spox Isaiah Breen is moving back to MSP to take a new non-government job, it’s nice to see that there are other young lefty Congressional spokespeople stepping up to the plate to deliver quality snark:

    You could read the ENTIRE Harry Potter series 3 TIMES and still not have read as many words as are in our tax code. It’s time for #TaxReform— GOP (@GOP) September 27, 2017

    hey #teens: don't forget to text your #squad that #taxes are a #Voldemort t.co/CSf30mvWy1— Georgia Parke (@nationalparke) September 27, 2017

  115. 115.

    BretH

    Trump is speaking on Tax Cuts for the Rich. I tried, I really am trying to listen but I am getting such a visceral response of revulsion that it’s only a matter of time before I turn it off or lose my lunch.

  119. 119.

    The Pale Scot

    @Hungry Joe: When I worked in the restaurant industry. My dream was serving in an enormous place where the rooms were all places I had previously worked. No bussers, POS down, My food never on the line when I walked thru the kitchen.

    At least I never worked at TGIFs, those guys had dreams where everything was covered in red stripes!

  121. 121.

    Spanky

    And for you Game o’ Thrones fans:

    LONDON (AP) — Kit Harington and his former “Game of Thrones” on-screen romantic partner, Rose Leslie, are engaged.

    A formal notice published in the Times of London newspaper Wednesday announced the upcoming marriage of “Mr K.C. Harington and Miss R.E. Leslie.” It describes the couple as “Kit, younger son of David and Deborah Harington of Worcestershire, and Rose, middle daughter of Sebastian and Candy Leslie of Aberdeenshire.”

    Harington and Leslie were a couple on the HBO series as Jon Snow and Ygritte. Leslie left the cast in 2014.

    Her publicist and HBO didn’t immediately offer comment Wednesday.

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    Kurds celebrated in the streets of Irbil, the capital of their semiautonomous enclave, hailing the result as a landmark moment in a century-long and bloody fight for independence. Nearly 93 percent of voters approved the referendum, which was held Monday.

    Hmm. That approval percentage seems a little low.

    Turkey’s response will be interesting.

  123. 123.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:
    Most of them have deceived themselves. They frame it in words like ‘values’. But whatever they tell themselves to convince themselves they’re not racist, it always comes down to the ‘greatness’ and ‘liberty’ they’ve lost is absolute white domination. And they feel existentially threatened by that loss. Listen to FOX for five minutes and you’ll realize they feel so strongly that they see what social progress we’ve achieved as an apocalypse.

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    @Hungry Joe:

    I still have an occasional Bus Driver dream, usually involving not knowing my route and trying to drive it with a route map on my lap.

    I recently had a dream where I accidentally found myself driving a bus (it was one of those weird dream things where I was riding and then seamlessly changed to being the driver) and had to find a place to ditch it so I wouldn’t get in trouble with the law for stealing it.

  129. 129.

    jl

    @BretH: Transcripts. I recommend transcripts. That is all I can stomach these days with the GOP.

    Oh, for the days of Bobdole and Mitt.

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    @Spanky:

    Kit Harington and his former “Game of Thrones” on-screen romantic partner, Rose Leslie, are engaged.

    Daenerys Stormbornm will be heartbroken.

    Hope they have a great wedding, a great life and lots of little Wildlings.

  137. 137.

    ruckus

    @Roger Moore:
    I think drumpf’s only restriction in his mind, will it make him look bad. Or the converse, will it make someone else look bad.
    He’d have to be unable to speak to not run in that case. He’s such a narcissist that normal human concepts don’t apply.

  138. 138.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:
    Actually, you want the perfect example? O’Reilly’s War On Christmas. You can rephrase what he says, without even needing code words, as ‘We used to define normality. Now we do not. We can only survive by removing all signs that anyone different from us exists.’

  141. 141.

    Jay S

    @Roger Moore: I used to think he would feign health issues as a cover for resignation, but I’ve come to believe his ego won’t allow that. To much weakness in being ill.

  143. 143.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone:

    And listen, I’ve asked you about this before. But when you quote J-Rubs my first thought is Jennifer Rubin giving me a handjob.
    Do not want. Thanks

    Respectfully, I do not remember that request. HOWEVER…I can more than see your point…going back to using her full name, stat.

  144. 144.

    LanceThruster

    Could be the gender he identifies with? In his defense, there are 67 of them so he might have used the multiple choice question strategy of best possible answer.

  146. 146.

    Doug R

    @Alain the site fixer: Any chance of kicking those Taboola click bait links to the bottom, it’s a frickin minefield on a phone. I know the USA is not a signatory to the treaty banning mines, but this top 10,001 blog can be seen worldwide.
    Maybe I should go to the UN?

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Per Andy Borositz at the New Yorker:

    Trump had no immediate reaction to the news, other than cutting Kushner’s salary by thirty percent.

    LOL

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    @Antonius:

    That kind of information is never off topic!! So glad everyone is hanging in there, wish it wasn’t going so slowly for everyone on the island!!

  149. 149.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Doug R: I played with it and didn’t like three results. I find using the down/up buttons on the mobile site are plenty good for navigation. Master them and you’ll avoid mis-clicks!

  151. 151.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Honest to god, I don’t think they see the difference between this and HRC. It’s all politics and paybacks. They do it and think the Ds are doing it too

  153. 153.

    gene108

    Still a small fry in the 1/6 affair.

    There are hundreds, if not thousands, of wankers looking to take over or start groups like the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, etc.

    Republicans know he’s an easily replaced foot soldier.

  155. 155.

    Poptartacus

    Nice to see the site back up. How come we haven’t had pet pics? Lily and thirst on and that damm cat.
    Proof of life please

  156. 156.

    Jeffro

    Bringing justice to the participants of J6, at every level, has been my #1 political issue since that day.  By far.  Nothing else matters nearly as much as prosecuting the people who would have destroyed 240+ years of American democracy..and for trumpov, at that.

  157. 157.

    debbie

    I wish they’d indict whoever planted the pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC on 1/5/21.

  158. 158.

    Juju

    I think they wanted to lock her up for being a Democrat and a woman, a dangerous combination, I’ve been told.

  159. 159.

    RaflW

    I hope this means the drip-drip-drip is going to start flowing faster. If there turns out to be any plausible incriminating linkage between these conspirators and elected Republicans, it’s gotta start hitting the awareness of the electorate and newsers soon.

  160. 160.

    Dangerman

    Oh, do Ted Cruz next.

    ETA: Also that POS from Missouri. I want to see tears flow when they realize they will never be President.

  161. 161.

    Scout211

    So Tarrio went from being a “prolific” FBI informant to being indicted for sedition.
    I seem to remember that there was speculation that the FBI was protecting their informant so they “arrested” him to remove him from the insurrection.  I guess that was just a rumor?

    Below snippet is from an article in January of 2021, link above.

    Tarrio, 36, is a high-profile figure who organizes and leads the right-wing Proud Boys in their confrontations with those they believe to be Antifa, short for “anti-fascism,” an amorphous and often violent leftist movement. The Proud Boys were involved in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol January 6.
    The records uncovered by Reuters are startling because they show that a leader of a far-right group now under intense scrutiny by law enforcement was previously an active collaborator with criminal investigators.
    Washington police arrested Tarrio in early January when he arrived in the city two days before the Capitol Hill riot. He was charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines, and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a December demonstration by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The D.C. Superior Court ordered him to leave the city pending a court date in June.
    Though Tarrio did not take part in the Capitol insurrection, at least five Proud Boys members have been charged in the riot. The FBI previously said Tarrio’s earlier arrest was an effort to preempt the events of January 6.

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    Well the right has zero idea how to govern, the only thing they are interested in is how to grift as much money as possible, while not giving a damn who they hurt. Nor do they care how many laws they break as long as no one stops them from their grift. And I just described conservatives around the world. It’s all about them and how great their idealistic father figure thinks they are. They make up excuses – OK they pull them out of their butts for why they do all the crap they do but it is 99% about the grift. Their supporters though often buy into their bullshit about who is going to attempt to tear down their version of the grift circus they have going and all the wrong reasons that it is going to happen, thereby keeping their enforcers happy. We complain about they have no actual ideas about government or running the country/state/county/city they live in but that’s because they don’t have any realistic ideas. Look at presidents for the last 60-70 yrs and tell me one republican president who ended up with a better operating economy or government than the democrat before them left. BTW I’m not holding my breath.

  163. 163.

    surfk9

    I think that the DOJ is trying to get out in front of the J6  committee to cut down calls for them to do something.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    I have to post this periodically so people don’t forgot how truly horrible the coverage was:

    Maggie Haberman
    @maggieNYT.
    @amychozick
    got her hands on that “Clinton Cash” book, y’all

    April 19, 2015. They had their narrative and – credit where credit is due- they never veered from it. And all the rest just followed along, like the rigidly conventional and careerist people they are.
    The only good part is I think Chozick never got her tv deal. Turns out no one wanted to watch a replay of that low quality work.

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    By the way, this is about the amount of time I’d expect a federal investigation of this complexity to take. t.co/gmGy0SCSEQ

    — OnlineDefamationExpertHat (@Popehat) June 6, 2022

    Made me look.

    Let’s see… NPR.org (from April 2006):

    Former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling are on trial in Houston for one of the biggest corporate upsets in U.S. history. Federal prosecutors, who’ve charged Lay and Skilling with multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy, argue the pair hid the company’s troubles from investors and are to blame for the energy giant’s implosion in December 2001. Its collapse wiped out more than 5,000 jobs and a billion dollars in retirement savings.

    (Emphasis added.)

    Fastow was indicted on Halloween 2002. Skilling was indicted in February 2004. Lay was indicted in July 2004.

    The DOJ seems to be working pretty quickly here. With good reason!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  173. 173.

    piratedan

    @surfk9: be happier with them if someone inside would quit determining people like Meadows are above the law….. when it’s readily apparent (if the reporting is accurate) that he’s up to his eyebrows in both the corruption and the sedition.

  177. 177.

    Kay

    @Baud: 

    The article is just incredible to read now that we know what they had planned:

    The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

    But “Clinton Cash” is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book.
    Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes Mr. Paul and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have been briefed on the book’s findings, and its contents have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns.

    Jesus Christ. 2015.

    Especially amusing for the NYTimes, who did jack shit re: Donald Trump although he was in their backyard for the prior 50 years.
    So much for “liberal” NYC and their “cut throat” press corps. We would have gotten more and better information if Trump had been a mall developer from Missouri.

  179. 179.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    There was so much bullshit against her, I don’t even remember what the “big story” from that book was.

  180. 180.

    Mike in NC

    The most profound words ever uttered by the Fat Orange Clown were, “When you’re a star, you can just grab women…” and his second most famous were “Proud Boys, stand down and stand by”.

  181. 181.

    prostratedragon

    I think the DOJ is working to its own clock, and is likely in the end to go pretty big. At least some of what we see and don’t see might have to do with information control.

  183. 183.

    cain

    Damn, two posts in a row, Cole – you’re on a roll. Next thing you know, you’ll be running around in the comments! :-)

  184. 184.

    Kay

    I love that Republican voters don’t care at all that they were told over and over by Trump that Clinton would be “locked up” and then he had 4 years and didn’t even pretend to be “locking her up”, yet they all still believe she’s a criminal.

    He didn’t lock anyone up. All he did was pardon a bunch of criminals that were convicted under other presidents.

    No wonder they don’t believe anything. The much ballyhooed “swamp draining” was a huge flop. No one even pretended they were doing it.

  187. 187.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The theory of the book- the case against her- was the Clintons wanted donations to their foundation so did favors in return for those donations. Donations that went to worthy causes, which seems to me to be a big hole in the ol theory of the case. They’re like Robin Hood, but in a bad, evil way.

  189. 189.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: in fairness, Kay, trumpov & Co were busy dealing with CARAVAN after CARAVAN and had no time to lock Hillz up.

    Ok, no they weren’t – everyone knows CARAVANZZZ! only show up at election time.  But the intention to lock Hillz up was there, I’m sure.

  191. 191.

    Calouste

    @Kay: Well, some people, some New Yorkers even, have foundations that they use for their own benefit, rather than giving the money to good causes. Although you’d think that the government of Norway had done some due diligence before giving (IIRC) $20 million to the Clinton foundation. A sum btw, they didn’t give to some other New Yorker’s foundation.

  192. 192.

    Kay

    @Calouste:

    But the book never alleged that. There was never anything hinky found about the spending. My God, they would have definitely locked her up for that, with glee. The benefit was reputational. It made them look good and as we all know they are bad, bad, bad. They ROBBED a charitable good name that is WAY above their station!

  194. 194.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: Looks too short for MTG to me.  Maybe Boebert!!1

    But, seriously, you made me look at one of the videos again. It sure looks like a woman’s walk to me. (It’s hard to tell from most of the others because the video is so choppy – this seems reasonably smooth.)

    Dunno.

    (from the FBI.gov page)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  196. 196.

    dww44

    @prostratedragon: I remain unconvinced that we are going to see any real consequential action from AG Garland and the Justice Department.  Cynically, it seems to me that the AG was so determined to be the antithesis of a Bill Barr that he has moved to the extreme in the opposite direction and is in danger of simply “not seizing” the day when it needs to be seized forcefully.  Just maybe he was great as an impartial and even mild mannered judge but those are not traits that make for the sort of Attorney General our democracy needs in the present moment.

  197. 197.

    Jeffro

    @Bex: GOP has settled on its narrative from now ‘til November: 1) the “border crisis” and 2) inflation (especially in gas prices and groceries).

    That’s it.  They don’t want to talk about abortion or guns or even CRT, which is extremely interesting.  They know that the tide has turned on these issues and the majority – especially in the suburbs – is not with them.

    So: INFLATSHUN!!!1!! and ILLEGALZ!!!1! it is.  Pretty concrete.  Pretty impactful.  What are our 2 or 3 all-caps issues?

  198. 198.

    Kay

    Olivia Nuzzi
    @Olivianuzzi
    ·Sep 1, 2021
    The daily ritual of pummeling someone for expressing a dumb thought or poorly expressing a complicated thought or expressing a thought that it’s easy to uncharitably interpret does not seem to be helping everyone process their stress and unhappiness caused by our broken society.

    This would be less anguished for them if they would just become comfortable with what is true- that Twitter is one way they sell their product and they are in a very small group of people who use it successfully like that. It’s a free ad for their work. We read their work not because we love them especially and forever but because they write about politics. If they were writing about “trends in food service” we wouldn’t be reading them on Twitter. They reap the upside of that and unsurprisingly in grownupworld there is also a potential downside, which is we find out what dumb, unfunny “jokes” they like. Maybe just stick to the sales pitch, okey doke?

  199. 199.

    Jeffro

    George Conway, just a bit ago on Twitter:

    Does anyone know why the biggest and most dangerous migrant caravans seem to form up in the months before the November of every even numbered year?

  200. 200.

    Roger Moore

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     

    Honest to god, I don’t think they see the difference between this and HRC. It’s all politics and paybacks. They do it and think the Ds are doing it too

    Yes and no. One of the things I’ve heard a lot of and am still trying to wrap my head around is that many of the professed beliefs of the right wing are basically rationalizations. They don’t necessarily believe the Democrats are doing the same thing, but telling themselves they are provides an excuse for doing what they want. So they tell themselves the Democrats are just using the law as a pretext for arresting people they want to because it provides an excuse for why it’s OK for them to arrest Hillary when it’s their turn.
    That so many of their beliefs are just rationalizations explains why those beliefs are so easy to change. They don’t have any deep belief in this stuff; it’s just what they tell themselves to rationalize their actions. So if they want to do something that’s completely contradictory, they have no trouble adopting the exact opposite belief. It was never really a core belief in the first place, just a rationalization used to justify their chosen actions. The really interesting part is trying to figure out what their true core beliefs are based on what things they don’t change so regularly.

  201. 201.

    Kay

    Texas Attorney General
    @TXAG
    · 4h
    Today I’m investigating Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its “bot” users. I have a duty to protect Texans if Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue.

    Oh, God, they’re really going to bail this douchebag out. “I have a duty to protect this Right wing asshole who made a bad business decision”
    Boy nice to be rich and famous, huh? You can buy the whole government of Texas and have them do your bidding.
    None of these people are actually capitalists. Democrats should take free markets. Conservatives left it up for grabs. Crony, baby. They protect their cronies.

  202. 202.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    I don’t even remember what the “big story” from that book was.

    That’s because there wasn’t a big story.  There were lots of things that sounded kind of vaguely bad but which couldn’t be put together into a coherent narrative.  If there had been any actual wrongdoing they would have led with that.  Instead, there were lots of vague insinuations about bad optics and appearances of conflict of interest.

  203. 203.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    “I have a duty to protect this Right wing asshole who made a bad business decision”

    They have a duty to protect this right wing asshole who is in the process of moving his business from California to Texas.  Honestly, this should have been a huge alarm siren to anyone paying attention that Tesla was in trouble.  The moment a company decides to move from California to Texas for tax reasons, it’s a sign they’ve jumped the shark.  They’re no longer in the business of innovating and are now trying to work the angles to cut costs and maximize shareholder payouts.

  204. 204.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @dww44: Yeah, he was never a prosecutor who convicted people like Timothy McVeigh or anything like that.

  205. 205.

    Kay

    Mike Hume
    @MikeHumePost
    · 8h
    Some news: Thrilled to be joining our Emerging News Products group to help create, launch and grow exciting new properties for The Post and our audiences. Also thrilled that in this new role, I’ll be bringing @LauncherWP along with me.

    Right now I’m just pitching product on Twitter so it’s GREAT but if I Tweet something dumb I will be anguished and then it becomes hugely profound and a commentary on sadness and kindness for the whole country. Why won’t people just let me sell my work and ignore everything else I say?

  207. 207.

    Captain C

    @Kay:

    So much for “liberal” NYC and their “cut throat” press corps.

    Not that it was ever different (cf. WMDs in Iraq, Al Gore, Whitewater, not getting Watergate, Walter Duranty, Hitler not so bad…), but the FTFNYT has pretty much always served power on its front page, even if they have to contradict their often excellent reporting on page A17.  At this point the Daily News seems more honest.

    We would have gotten more and better information if Trump had been a mall developer from Missouri.

    Given the thinly veiled contempt that many of the FTFNYT ‘star reporters’ and readers have for the so-called flyover states (except, apparently, for their diners and the Republican operatives posing as ordinary citizens within), this is a given.  In fact, he may well have gotten the Hillary Clinton/Al Gore treatment.

  208. 208.

    Kay

    @Roger Moore:

    You don’t have to tell me. It’s hard to build cars at scale and it gets harder the more of them you make and sell. Do you see any other car company CEO’s spending their days posting incredibly banal “insights” on social media? That takes a true innovator.

    Lots of luck on his trip to the moon. When they finish gearing up they are going to crush him and that was ALWAYS going to be the case.

  209. 209.

    Captain C

    @Kay: Didn’t they have an employee specifically for the purpose of saying ‘no’ to such requests?

  210. 210.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay: 
    I don’t mind if people want to say stupid stuff on Twitter. What people who depend on Twitter really need is to have multiple accounts: a work account where they only post work stuff and a personal account where they can say what they really want to. If they want to post personal stuff from their professional account, they deserve the roasting they’ll probably get, including professional discipline from their employer.

  211. 211.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    All he did was pardon a bunch of criminals that were convicted under other presidents.

    Not true.

    He pardoned people convicted during his administration who were associated with his campaign.

  212. 212.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @gene108:  He’s the leader of a nation-wide, White Nationalist organization and he was in the White House only a few days earlier and he could be a potential legal connection to Trump. He’s not just a grunt.

  213. 213.

    cain

    @Kay: 
    They’ll just blame Dems for the whole thing – it’s not like these people actually live in the reality as we do.

  214. 214.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @dww44: Bringing Seditious Conspiracy charges against one of the leaders of a White Nationalist organization is definitely something of consequence.  Especially since he may have direct ties (and a legal route) to Trump, having been at the White House only a week before.

  215. 215.

    Geminid

    @UncleEbeneezer: It would be great if Tarrio can incriminate trump, and he flips. I suspect that trump was more careful than that. He’s a career criminal who learned long ago to work his crimes through a very few trusted henchmen.

    Roger Stone was probably trump’s “cutout” in this case, just like he acted for trump with the Russians in the 2016 election. But trump could have been sloppier than usual, and let more people in on his plotting than he needed to.

    Although it seems unlikely, it’s possible that Stone might flip on trump. Stone is a fanatic, but his financial condition is shakier now than when he stonewalled Muellar’s team. He cannot count on a pardon this time, either.

  216. 216.

    mrmoshpotato

    Remember when they wanted to lock Hillary Clinton up for… being a Democrat?

    Wait. The fascist trash stopped wanting that? When? :)

  217. 217.

    Calouste

    @Kay: That’s what I said at the previous thread, Musk is just going through the American “justice” system and have some fascist judge bail him out. If they don’t outright assign Twitter to him for significantly less than what he offered. It’s how it goes in kleptocracies.

  220. 220.

    SamIAm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Except he didn’t, he was part of a team  that was lead by someone else entirely.

    The United States was represented by a team of prosecutors led by Joseph Hartzler.

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